Representative embodiments relate to the testing of an electronic product, component, circuit or the like. In particular, representative embodiments are of test probes that may create temporary electrical connections to a device under test (DUT).
Electronic products typically include a circuit board or substrate bearing circuitry of the product. During the prototyping or throughout the course of the manufacturing of an electronic product electrical characteristics of the product are tested to ensure proper design of the product or to monitor the manufacturing processes. For example, in characterizing and troubleshooting electronic circuits there is a need to connect nodes of a circuit to measuring instrumentation such as an oscilloscope. This can be accomplished by establishing temporary electrical connections to the nodes. Different methods exist to accomplish this such as fixtured access which entails providing a controlled impedance line exiting the device under test (DUT)), temporarily solder-connecting a probe to the nodes, and contacting the nodes with a browser probe.
A browser probe is a device by which temporary connections to circuit nodes can be established quickly, and which can be moved easily to other nodes. This is where the name “browser” comes from—the ability to browse around circuit nodes of a DUT.